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“This is potentially billions of dollars going from everyday consumers to lawyers’ slush funds,” said Ted Frank, the litigation director at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who’s disputing the $8.5 million settlement between Google and 129 million class members before the Supreme Court.

The case, Frank v. Gaos, focuses on the question of whether it’s fair and reasonable to ever have class action settlements that give money to outside groups instead of the class members themselves.

A decision for Frank — who also happens to be a class member in the Google case and is a longtime gadfly questioning class action settlements — could require the money go directly to consumers and upend a class action pay out method that’s been around for decades.